The Mac Admin's Blog

When you download an application from internet, it gives a prompt to open or go to the website once the downloading is complete. Following this post you can get rid of annoying prompt. Before I start I would rather recommend that if you are new to Mac don’t disable it unless you are well versed with the behavior of Mac Operating system and its functionality. If you are smart enough to manage, then lets move ahead. All you have to do is type the following command on terminal screen. defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool NO This command stops the quarantine message that you get after downloading is complete. Activation and deactivation of this feature is almost same. All you have to do is change the last section of this command from ‘NO’ to ‘YES’, as mentioned below: defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool YES I have tested this on two iMacs, please let me know if you face any issue is executing it. Tweet me on: @MacMaste

Here are some additional features which are not so popular while typing text in Mac. Character substitution In OS X Snow Leopard, Apple introduced text substitution. While for the most part it is used for symbols, it can also be used for word substitution. Apple includes a number of default options, such as copyright and trademark symbols, but provides the option to add customized words and other substitutions of your choosing. To set this up, go to the "Language & Text" system preferences, and in the "Text" tab, use the plus button to add new substitution options. In order to use symbols, glyphs, or other nonstandard characters in the substitution, when you are entering the replacement text it might be useful to have the system's "Character Viewer" panel open (available from the input menu) so you can insert desired symbols. Autocompletion One additional composition aid that is available in Snow Leopard is word suggestion, which can be use

Whenever you launch VPN with multiple connection entries, you have to select the one of your choice every time when you try to login. There is an option where, using VPN you can set up default connection entry so that you don’t have to bother about selecting it every time when you login to VPN. This change in your VPN setting is surely going to increase your productivity.  Click on the option ‘Set as Default Connection Entry’

While writing Email if you want to compose it in colorful format, you can try following those steps: Go to ‘Entourage’ menu and select ‘Preferences’ On the left column select ‘Compose’ and it will bring the ‘General’ window Change to HTML/Plain text from the option Mail format.

There are multiple issue that can be fixed just by removing the cache We all are aware of the fact that majority of Mac apps run from a cache. If this cache gets corrupted and isn’t updated it can produce many unexpected errors. If this happens you can delete the cache and then re-launch the application. To delete the cache relating to a program go to /Users/[name]/Library/Caches , find the folder relating to the application and delete it. Make sure the app you want to solve is closed before hand. When you restart the app it should have cleared any problems. Some cache files may also be stored in /Library/Caches , of any hard drive, though you might see such cases once a while. If deleting the app results in any adverse effects (it shouldn’t do), simply close the program and move the cache files back from the Trash into there original location.

The company has released a firmware update for their 27-inch iMacs which is an update for the display hardware itself, which is going to resolved display problems on the new machines. By this update they have reduced blank displays, yellow-tinted LCD colors and display flickering. So far there are more of positive feedbacks on this launch. Despite these instances, for others the update has worked as expected. In the knowledgebase about the update, Apple suggests if you continue to experience display flickering issues after the firmware update has been applied, you should check to ensure you have applied the previously released "27-inch iMac Graphics Firmware Update 1.0," which updated the graphics cards on the new systems. So it seems this is a sequel of the old release. Since these updates and the problems they address have to do with firmware, you might try resetting the system's PRAM and SMC after you have applied the update. Doing this should reset firmware

In the scenario where you are able to receive mails but unable to send it because the Send button is grayed out or is completely inactive. Try those steps out, this has worked many of my home users. Launch Mail. Go to the Mail menu & choose Preferences . Click on Accounts in the Preferences window.  Open the Account Information pane. Here could be the first reason, that the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu could be set to "None". Change it and select your server from the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up menu. These steps should work, so run a test & see if you are able to send the mails. If this did not work then the problem should be in the settings of your SMTP server. Go to the Mail menu & choose Preferences once again.  Click on Accounts in the Preferences window & select your account from the left side. Click the Account Information pane. Here in the "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP)" pop-up

One of the fact of life is we keep losing and getting things. If unfortunately you ever miss your iPhone somewhere you can lock it using your MobileMe account. This is one of the safest investment that you can make. Just to remind you about MobileMe , this is not just a security application, but it is perfect combination of office and personal tools. It has push Email, push contact, push calendar and inbuilt photo Gallery for iPhone and iPod touch. Also, it has many more features, visit Apple official website for more information. Lock your iPhone remotely Once you realize you haven’t simply misplaced your iPhone at home under a pile of laundry, you may want to protect its contents until your iPhone is safely back in your hands. Just sign in to your MobileMe account and remotely set a four-digit passcode lock to prevent people from using your iPhone, accessing your personal information, or tampering with your settings.

Here are some applications that might increase value in your work. Get a trial version and see if you like it. Most of them are for official purpose.   Slices Slices is an application that allows you to split and combine files. With Slices you can email large documents, as well as fit very large files onto CDs, memory sticks and other writable media. And, like SlidePad, Slices is free! Learn more | Download SlidePad SlidePad is a powerful, convenient note-taking application that allows you to unobtrusively take notes without ever leaving your keyboard. And SlidePad is free! Learn more | Download Parachute This is a versatile, powerful backup tool that allows you make automated backups of your files. With Parachute you can select files individually, set your own schedule and backup to both local disks and remote servers. Learn more | Download | Buy Now Renamer Renamer gives you to option to rename and number many files at once. If you've

How to delete cache in Entourage? The steps mentioned here will work for all types of mail i.e. POP3 , IMAP and Exchange . To clear the cache, open Entourage (make sure you log off from any other instances of Exchange on your iPhone or Smart phone or Blackberry ). Before you follow the steps further you should make sure that you are connected to the network. Within Entourage, on the left, mouse over the name of your Exchange account and press the ‘Control+mouse click’ simultaneously to get the contextual menu. In case you have activated secondary button in mouse then just ‘right click’ on it. Select Folder Properties. Under the General tab, which opens by default, click on the Empty button to empty the cache.

How to stop auto complete address suggestion in Entourage? If you want you Entourage to stop giving you suggestions of old Email addresses while typing the name, then you can follow the steps mentioned below. This is really useful when someone who is in your address list and you have sent him/her mail earlier but now their Email address is changed. In this case Entourage will keep suggesting you the old address which is cached in the memory. You can clear the address cache by following this small step: Go to Preferences under Entourage menu.     Select Compose and under Recent Addresses , click on the button “ Clear List ”. Doing this will make Entourage forget all the addresses saved in cache.  If you want to disable this feature entirely and have Entourage only offer auto-complete for addresses in your address book, simply uncheck the option "Display a list of recently used addresses when address messages".

This problem might happen with any MS Office file. Some of the Mac users noticed that many of my Excel documents were not indexed as part of the Spotlight database; Spotlight search results for obviously-known content was coming up empty. The reason for this invisibility was that I still had Microsoft Office 2004 installed (some of the users keep this for macro compatibility), and when this happens, the old PowerPC version of Microsoft Office.mdimporter still sits in your ~/Library/Spotlight folder. Many mdworker console messages were indicating that only a PowerPC importer plug-in was found , thus many Office documents weren't getting indexed. The solution to this is to trash the PowerPC version of this file, and trash the /.Spotlight-V100 file, which forced a total re-indexing. The system then used the Intel version of the Spotlight importer, and all my Office documents are once again indexed.

How to change the login screen background in Snow Leopard? Since the time you have bought your Mac, you might have been seeing the same boring background of login screen. There is a small trick that can help you to change it. Here are the steps: 1. Go to Finder and open ‘Go to Folder’ or you can also hit Command+Shift+G to open the same screen. 2. Now in the path, type / System/Library/CoreServices/ and click ‘Go’. 3. Once done, find the image file in the name of ‘DefaultDesktop.jpg’ and replace it with the image or file of your choice. I would suggest to make a backup of the original file. Also see the resolution of the image so that you can replace it accordingly and the new image looks perfectly fit to the screen. That was all! Now you can reboot and try this hack, its wonderful. This trick works to change the login background in Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 only. I know you are smart enough to find the file in Leopard also.

Simple way to give a new transparent look to your Terminal Some of us guys might be working on Terminal a lot and might have been boring seeing the same dark black screen. This is a very simple way to give a transparent look to your Terminal window. They call it a hack, but I call it a cool trendy method and is quite useful. First of all you have to enable the tab bar, this can be done by going to View > Show Tab Bar . This usually enables the feature to have more than one tab opened simultaneously. Once you enable the tab bar, you can select the tab at the top of the Terminal window and slightly drag it. This usually moves a tab around, however in the process it makes it invisible. This might need some practice and soon you will be perfect in moving the window in such a way that it will go invisible. If you want modify Terminal even more there is plenty of preferences go to Terminal > Preferences > Settings, here you can change how Terminal looks and behaves.

How to expand the movie display size in Mac? This is a small tip that might help you once a while if you receive a clip recorded on a mobile phone that is comparatively of a smaller frame size. In order to get rid of this restriction, you can drag it into a new Mail message. This should be done only in Mail in Mac and not on any other Email client.  The reason behind this is that the player used in Mail still has the classis old type controller at the bottom, and this plays the movies at the correct size.

Here are the steps to get this done: Open the System Preferences (either from the Dock or from the Apple menu).   Go to the Display Panel and choose the 'Display' tab. On the left of the Displays tab you can select one of the Resolutions from the list. Higher resolutions allow you to see more “stuff”. IT is recommending at least 1024x768 unless you have a specific reason to use a lower resolution.   Quit or close the System Preferences when done. Also make sure: At higher resolutions, you may not be able to see as many colors (Thousands instead of Millions) Flat panel monitors have a prefered resolution. If you set the display lower or higher, the display will be noticably more blurry. The prefered resolution should be noted in your display manual. For example, the new 17 inch Apple Studio Display (flat panel) is most crisp at 1280x1024.

The trendiest thing happening in the world of Hackintosh is running OS X 10.6 on a Dell mini, the Intel Atom notebook. If you get a refurbished Dell it could cost you around $200. The reason why we prefer Dell and not any other is the really easy way to get this done. It is running successfully across the world with 100s of members of Hackintosh community. I personally do not prefer hacking a Mac OS X, but if you are a real Mac fanatic and you cannot afford to buy a it, you can always try this. If you are on Twitter you can get great deals in Dell Machine by following this DellOutlet . There are 1,371,431 followers already availing the benefit from these Dell tweets. Once you get the deal, you can start the installing Mac OS X on you Dell mini. The step by step procedure is explained beautifully by Gizmodo here . Many thanks to the team who worked behind this.

What is so special about TwitterFun For the users who are Twitteraholic and cannot run their business without it can now download Twitter application on their desktop. One of the best that I use is TwitterFun. The best part is this application is too compact and can be kept at any corner of the desktop. Another great feature is that it has inbuilt url shortner where url can be shortened with just one click and it can be set to a mode where you paste long url and it will automatically shorten it even without a click. Some of the other features are its inbuilt reply button where you don't even have to bother about typing @before a reply. It can also take you to Twitter homepage just by one single click. You can also select sent Tweets, recieved tweets, archive tweets and lots more, if you own a mac, give it a try. If you need additional Twitter applications for Mac,you can find 50+ from here . Here almost all the application for Twitter is available, if you hav

How to disable the spotlight in Snow Leopard In our last post we discussed about disabling spotlight in 10.5, now I will mention the way to make it happen in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Disabling Spotlight in Snow Leopard is simple, all you need to do is launch the Terminal and type the following command: sudo mdutil -a -i off This will give a command to the Spotlight manager to disable all indexing on the mounted volumes, this command requires your admin password to execute. Re-enabling Spotlight in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is as easy as disabling, just type 'on' instead of 'off' as below: sudo mdutil -a -i on Now everything should be cool as it was. Additional tips & tricks are available here.